“Language is in decline. Not only has eloquence departed but simple, direct speech as well, though pomposity and banality have not.”

–Edwin Newman, journalist and author

On January 22 of this year, an article titled, “Polyamory: Lots of Sex, Even More Scheduling,” was published in the Wall Street Journal. Being the enthusiastic and curious reader I am, it caught my eye, so I read it. And I’m glad I did, as it gave me an idea for today’s blog.

The gist of the article was that up to 22% of Americans claim they’ve practiced consensual non-monogamy in their marriage. Troubling was the fact that the article spent far more time on the scheduling and expense challenges of such an approach to marriage than it did on the morality of it.

Without getting into the entire notion of such a concept, as that could be a blog unto itself, the terms “consensual non-monogamy” or “ethical non-monogamy” grabbed my attention. To anyone who believes in traditional marriage and the sacredness of marriage vows, is there a greater oxymoron than “ethical non-monogamy?”

To me, that’s like two people who decide to go to the mall and shop, and then decide if they both agree a “smash and grab” is okay, there’s nothing wrong with it. Actually, in a sense, that’s what’s going on in many American cities today, although I don’t think those thugs put an iota of thought into the ethics of their behavior.

Now, to my greater point. It seems we’ve reached a level of linguistic gymnastics such that folks can make up any term, use it repeatedly, and then it becomes an acceptable notion. If one in four folks are espousing something, then it must be legitimate behavior that should be condoned by society, right? Hardly!

Of course, our D.C. politicians do this all the time. “The border is closed,” “We’re just public servants,” “My party’s for fiscal responsibility.” Their misstatements and word salads go on and on, day after day. Wash, rinse, and repeat enough times, and the pied piper’s followers believe what they hear.

Regrettably, it’s replete in our culture now, too. Somehow, pronouns  are hard to define. And a candidate for the Supreme Court couldn’t define the word, “woman.” Maybe it all started when our 42nd U.S. president posited that an answer to a question would depend on what the definition of “is” is. That’s probably when we should have started sounding alarms.

In Christian religious circles, apparently we’re no longer “brothers and sisters in Christ” but “siblings in Christ.” I guess “brothers and sisters” is no longer all-inclusive. It’s as though Moses’s story of the Creation didn’t say, “God created man and woman (or male and female, depending on your translation).” Did he mean to say, “God created man, woman, and those who claim to be something else?” I know this all sounds kooky, but it’s the world in which we now live.

There are few silver linings to the disastrous way our government managed the Covid pandemic. One, however, is it allowed parents an inside look at the curricula schools use to educate their students. And boy did that set people’s hair on fire (figuratively, please!). There was such pushback that Virginia’s current governor “rode that horse” of disgust and dissent all the way to the governor’s mansion in Richmond … and similar reactions are now occurring nationwide.

Listen, I may disagree with what some adults think or how they behave, even within my circle of friends, my medical profession, and my church denomination. But adults supposedly have mature prefrontal cortices and can make their own decisions. Just don’t push it on the majority of us as though it’s to be accepted as mainstream. It’s not.

Children, however, are immature and impressionable. If they admire, trust, or–to the other extreme–are intimated by adults who teach, coach, or lead them, they’re likely to accept what they hear and see as “gospel,” and that worries me. It’s incumbent on parents to oversee everything their kids are exposed to, from their education to their time spent on social media platforms (another idea for a blog post). If we shirk that responsibility, we do so at our own, and their, peril.